Ethos
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Ethos
People have been trying to influence one another for a long time. Maybe one of the most respected early
speakers was the Greek Philosopher Aristotle. His ideas are as relevant today as they were when he was
teaching at the Lyceum around 300 B.C. Aristotle was a Greek teacher/scientist and a student of Plato,
came up with with the three methods of persuasion. His work, the Rhetoric, is widely regarded as the
most important work on persuasion ever published. Aristotle tackled the question: how do we
come to believe something or to believe we should act in a certain way in the absence of knowing "the truth"?
He thought there were basically three ways to influencepeople;The first kind is ethos which depends on the personal
character of the speaker, the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind which is pathos,and the third
logos is the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself.
Ethos is a greek term from which ethics is derived and is referred to as ethical appeal in the rhetorical context.
The basis of rhetoric is formed from the author's attitude and character toward his audience...